


Perchance to Sleep

by Ladymarichan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Boys Kissing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Relationship(s), Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-10 05:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10430460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladymarichan/pseuds/Ladymarichan
Summary: Keith's mind is not in a good place and after the event of the day, plus Allura's cold reception, things go from down to depressing.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my tooth-rotting idea of what happened in Season 2 Episode 9 between the time the plan to defeat Zarkon was made and when Hunk and Keith left to find the Skultrite. I'd like to think that the Paladins got to rest before going on their respective missions. Seeing as we no longer see Kolivan and Antok on the Castle Ship, I'm assuming they returned to the Blade Of Marmora's base. I'm taking major creative liberties here. (Whoo!) In this story, Shiro and Keith had a relationship before Shiro went off to Kerberos. Yes, that kind of relationship. This contains light smut. Ok, almost no smut, just some kissing.

Once plans had been decided and Kolivan and Antok had returned to the Blade of Marmora’s base, it was decided that everyone needed a good rest before starting out on their respective journeys. One by one, the paladins left the bridge and went to various places. Coran had suggested that Keith spend a night in the healing pod due to his injuries and he had flat out refused, stating he was fine. Allura didn’t even look his way through the conversation. Instead she focused on the screen in front of her and looked at it like a lost treasure map. Shiro, as usual, was the one who picked up on the subtle tone the word fine was said and looked to the smaller man on his right. Keith looked at the large hologram standing in the center of the room and exhaled.  He turned on his heel and walked towards the door.  
“Keith, wait.”  Shiro said as he turned. “I’ll walk with you.”  
Keith stopped and looked back, he waited although he didn’t say a word as Shiro caught up to his side.  
Together they walked off the bridge. Once the door closed, Allura relaxed with a loud exhale.  
“Princess?”  Coran asked.  
“I’m sorry,” she replied. “It’s nothing.”  
Coran cocked his head slightly. “Saying Keith is nothing is not going to solve your issue.”  
Allura looked over at him. “He’s Galra, Coran”  
“So?” Coran replied. “He’s also a paladin and the red lion chose him. You can’t let this cloud you.”  
“He’s Galra.  How can he be trusted?”  
“Has he done anything so far to make you think he will betray us?”  
“No.”  
Allura sat down on the edge of the command platform, her shoulders sank. “The Galra are an evil race. They took everything from us, Coran. How am I supposed to live side by side with one on my ship?”  
Coran sat down beside her and placed an arm around her shoulders. “You’ve been living side by side with him all this time, why should this make things different. He is still the same person…”  
“With Galra blood.”  Allura said.  
“…as he was earlier this quintent. He’s already struggling with the new information. It’s not right to make it harder on him.”  
“Harder on him?! Coran, that’s ridiculous.”  She said standing abruptly, causing Coran’s arm to fall.  
“Think about it, Ok?”  He asked quietly. “Get some rest and just think about it.”  
 

Keith and Shiro had walked to the paladin room and changed out of their armor and suits.  They had passed Pidge who was dressed in a green robe and matching lion slippers and once in the room found Lance and Hunk changing. At first no one spoke, but Shiro could feel questions rippling through the small room.  
“Ok, everyone sit down.”  
Lance looked over. “Right now?”  He said as his suit was wrapped around his knees.  
“Yes, sit.”  Shiro said.  
Hunk, Keith and Lance, took the benches next to them, Shiro remained standing.  
“I know Pidge isn’t here, but that’s OK.  I’ll chat with her later.”  Shiro spoke quietly. “We need to discuss this right now.”  
“No, we don’t Shiro.”  Keith said from one side.  
“Yes, we do.  Lance and Hunk have questions and seeing as I’m 96% sure you still have the trial suit on under your armor, there would be questions anyway. So we are doing this now.”  
It was at that moment the door opened and Pidge walked in. She stopped mid stride seeing everyone in various stages of undress. Lance picked up his chest plate and held it in front of himself.  
“Really Lance?” Pidge said. “We change in here after every mission.”  
Shiro interrupted. “Actually, Pidge, I’m glad you’re here. Please sit, we need to discuss something.”  
Pidge sat next to Keith and flashed him a smile. Keith smiled back.  
“Ok, so as you are aware Keith found out something about his heritage today. We’ve already seen Allura’s reaction to this and I want to make sure no one else is having any issue. We are a team and we need to be able to work together. So if you have anything to say, do it now.”  
Shiro looked over to Keith, who had visually slumped in his seat. Pidge placed a hand on his uninjured shoulder and he reached up to cover it with his.  
“No issue on my end.” She said giving Keith a loose hug. “It’s kinda cool in my opinion. I mean, just think of what he can do. With Shiro and Keith able to connect with Galra tech, we can have the perfect infiltration team.”  
Shiro smiled. “Just like you Pidge, seeing the glass half full.” He looked around. “Anyone else?”  
“I have questions, but nothing that would stop me from being around you, man.” Hunk said looking over at Keith.  
“What kind of questions?”  Keith asked.  
“Well,” Hunk said thinking on it for a moment. “Will you turn purple?  Are you going to have fluffy ears?  Would you like scratches? Can you purr?”  
They watched as Keith actually smiled. “Um, not sure, not sure, I guess, and I don’t know.”  
Lance was the next to speak. “So what happened over there? We didn’t hear from you guys for hours and then suddenly Red began attacking the base.  
“I took a test.” Keith said.  
‘Some test.” Lance replied.  
“Yeah.” Keith said.  
Shiro looked between them.  “He willingly went through the Marmora Trials to see what his blade meant, for his past and his present. He could have been killed. If it wasn’t for Red interrupting, he may have been.” He said. He then looked at Keith, “I think you should have chosen the pod tonight, especially because of your shoulder.”  
“No, it will be fine.”  Keith replied.  
A silence fell over the group and no one spoke for a few minutes. Pidge was the first to break the new norm.  
“Well, I need to get a piece from my suit and go back to my room.”  She stood up and dug through the pile that was her suit and pulled a small device from it. “Good night everyone.”  
“Night Pidge.”  
“Nite.”  
“See ya.”  
“Thank you.” Keith said as she walked away with a smile towards him.  
Lance stretched and finished pulling his suit off his legs. “Well, this is all well and good, but I have a date with a face mask, so yeah.”  He stood up and pulled his blue robe on over his boxers and tank top. He slid his feet into his slippers and left the room.  
Hunk was already changed and he stood up. “I’m outta here. I still love you guys. We’re all still brothers, and a sister, but yeah, good talk.”  
“Night Hunk.”  Shiro said as Keith waved.  
That left the two of them alone.  Shiro moved to unclip the chest plate from the back and slipped the armor piece over his head. He then went to work on the gauntlets and the leg pieces. In his peripheral vision, he could see Keith doing the same and he smirked when the under suit was opened to reveal the trails suit underneath it.  
“What? I didn’t have time to change.”  
“Right.” Shiro said with a smile.  He continued removing pieces and then the under suit itself.  
From behind him, Keith huffed. “Guess I’ll have a scare like yours?”  
Shiro turned around to see Keith out of the second suit. “You don’t have to, the pod would heal it up.”  
Keith walked over to Shiro, both dressed in undergarments and stopped in front of him. “It’s not a bad wound. Why use the resources that can be used for more severe injuries.” He said, looking up at Shiro.  
“Or.” Shiro said, “Perhaps you want a scar. Maybe to go with all of mine.”  
Keith smiled and pressed his lips to the X mark on Shiro’s shoulder. “You found me out.”  
‘You’re not shallow, Keith.” Shiro said.  “Seriously, why won’t you go into the pod?”  
“I just don’t want to. It’s not a deep cut, barely broke the skin.”  He replied leaning his head against Shiro’s shoulder. “Can you drop it?”  
Shiro brought his arms up to encircle Keith. “It’s dropped.”  
“Thank you.” Keith said barely above a whisper. Then a moment later. “We stink.”  
“And that kills the mood.”  
“What mood?  
“Exactly.”  Shiro stepped back and lowered his arms.  “We both need to rest.”  
 

Several hours later found Keith in his room attempting to sleep. He had showered and took time to stare at the blade. It had transformed back to its original dagger size and its soft glow lit up the corner of the room. Keith stared at the ceiling and back to the blade. He had no idea how long he’d been trying to sleep, but clearly it was not coming easily for him. Keith sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. His feet touched the cold floor and he sighed. This was getting him nowhere. He stood up, slipped his feet into his own pair of lion slippers and walked out into the hallway.  
There were several places Keith would go to when he needed to think or be alone. He didn’t feel like training, so the training deck was out of the question. He passed the common room and the kitchen and found his way to the observation deck.  
The door slid open and darkness greeted him. He made his way across the room and over to the large window. Keith had been here before and headed right to the padded ledge that sat along the window. He sat down and pulled his knees up. He didn’t hear the door open and close in the distance and almost jumped out of his skin when a hand touched his shoulder.  
“Easy, it’s just me.”  
Keith turned around to see Shiro standing next to him. “Hi.”  
“Can’t sleep?”  
“Is it that obvious?”  
“You forget our walls are pretty thin. I could hear you rolling around in there.”  
“Great.”  
“I also heard when you left your room and I decided to follow you.”  
“Again, great.” Keith said. “I’m sorry I kept you up.”  
“You didn’t, I don’t do much sleeping these days.” Shiro said as he sat opposite Keith. “Wanna talk about it?”  
“Not really.”  
“That’s ok, we can just watch the stars for a while.”  
The two fell into a comfortable silence for a while, then Keith shifted so he was sitting with his back to the window.  
“Do you hate me?”  
Shiro looked at him for a moment. “What?”  
“Do you hate me?” Keith asked again. “You were there and you saw all the shit going on in my mind. You know how I feel and that is something I can never take back. I’m trying to piece together everything that happened and I can’t. I don’t know what was said, who said it, my head is a mess and I just need to know.”  
Shiro shifted so one of his legs hung over the ledge. He moved forward and looked at Keith. “Why would you think I hate you?”  
“With what they did to you, Shiro, your hand, your face,” Keith reached out to run his hand over Shiro’s forelock. “Your hair. I’m one of them.”  
Shiro reached up and grasped Keith’s hand in his. He brought it back down and gently pressed his lips to the back of it. “No, I don’t hate you. Could never hate you. We’ve been through too much together and I already know how you feel. I really don’t care what sort of blood you have in your veins. I care that the blood in those veins is moving because that means you’re alive. I care that you never gave up on me when I went missing, and I care that you care enough to ask me. I don’t care that you’re one of them. You’ve said it yourself that all Galra can’t be bad and you are a prime example of that.”  
“But you saw the way All…”  
“I did and we’ll deal with that in due time. Hopefully she’ll come around.” Shiro said. “Now come here.”  
Shiro gave a tug on Keith’s hand and Keith let out a squeak before sinking into Shiro’s chest. Shiro’s arms came up to circle him in and they stayed that way. Keith nestled between Shiro’s thighs and arms.  
“Remember,” Shiro said quietly. “Red chose you to be her paladin, and the fact that she leaves to find you when something goes wrong tells me that you, even being of Galra Heritage, are the right person for this job and saving the universe. You have a mother lion looking out for you. Can you imagine if she thought you were in trouble right now? She’d be outside the window staring at us, or worse crashing through the castle.”  
Keith smiled at the thought and again when he felt Shiro’s lips against his hair and then the soft press of his chin. Keith turned so he could look out the window and soon sleep began to climb into his vision.  
Shiro continued to hold Keith and just looked out the window. He placed light kisses into the soft black hair and then settled his chin on top of Keith’s head. He noticed that Keith’s breathing had evened out and took a chance to peer down at his face. Keith’s eyes were closed and he was finally asleep. Shiro smiled to no one and continued to watch the stars.

 

Keith awoke to a dark mass in front of his face and a secure feeling around his body. He pulled his head back slightly to reveal Shiro’s chest in his vision. He panicked for a moment before remembering the past night and realized what was going on. He looked around and noticed that they were in Shiro’s room. Shiro’s arms were wrapped tight around him. Both were still dressed in night clothes and Shiro was still asleep. Keith snuggled back into the warmth and closed his eyes. He felt a smile break across his face and he willed it to relax.  
“Go back to sleep.” Shiro’s sleep laced voice said. “We still have time before the alarm goes off.”  
“Sorry.” Keith whispered.  
“It’s fine.” Shiro said and relaxed his hold around Keith. He rolled onto his back and opened his eyes. “Are you doing better?”  
“Much.” Keith replied.  
Shiro guided Keith into his side and wrapped his arms around him again. “Good, glad.” He said quietly as sleep took hold again.  
Keith closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.

 

When Keith awoke the next time he was draped over Shiro’s still sleeping form. He gently shifted his head to press over Shiro’s steady heartbeat and a small smile formed. He thought back to the events of the previous night and felt relief, happiness, and a sense of calm within him. He was thankful for that with the missions that they all had to undertake in the very near future.  
A hand moving up his arm pulled Keith from his thoughts. Shiro was waking up. The warm metal moved slowly up Keith’s arm and into his hair. Keith looked up to see Shiro gazing down at him.  
“Did I wake you?”  
Shiro smiled. “No, I’ve been awake for a while, just resting. I didn’t want to wake you.”  
Keith pushed himself into a different position so he could look at Shiro. “Thank you.”  
“For what?”  
“Last night.”  
“Nothing you wouldn’t have done. Or that you have done previously.”  
‘Still.”  
‘You’re welcome.” He said shifting slightly. “How are you feeling?”  
“Calm. So much better than yesterday.” Keith replied. “Thanks to you.”  
Shiro shifted again, this time onto his side, causing Keith to slide off his chest.  
Keith laid back down and faced him. It had been a while since they shared a bed, just to sleep. Keith reached out with his right hand and brushed the sleep crushed white hair from Shiro’s face. His hand lingered on Shiro’s skin and Shiro leaned into the touch. He moved his face and kissed the inside of Keith’s hand.  
“When was the last time we woke up like this?”  
“The day before you went to Kerberos.”  
“That long ago?”  
“Mmm.”  
“Huh.”  
“So.” Shiro said. “What if I do this?” He said as his hand moved down Keith’s side to his hip and pulled him closer.  
Keith let out a yelp and a laugh as his body met Shiro’s. “Now we’re closer.”  
“Hmm. And what if I did this?” He said as he pulled Keith’s leg over his.  
Keith looked between them and back up to Shiro. ‘Interesting.”  
“Followed by this?” He said wrapping his arms around Keith and rolling them over.  
Keith found himself on his back with Shiro looming over him. His legs parted and Shiro leaning in against him. “Not bad. You still have those smooth moves, Taka.”  
Shiro smiled. “Taka… You know what that does to me.”  
‘I remember, yes.” Keith said, bringing his arms up to encircle Shiro’s neck. “My Taka.”  
Shiro smiled again. He leaned down closing the space between them and stopped an inch away from Keith’s lips. “Can I?”  
Keith’s hand moved to cup his face. “You never have to ask.”  
“It’s been over a year, I’m not sure I can…”  
Keith stopped him with a soft finger to his lips. “I’m not looking for sex. I’m not even sure I could at this point with everything going on. Just kiss me.”  
Shiro didn’t need to be told twice. He closed the space and when their lips met, Keith’s intake of air went straight through him. Shiro brought his arms down to brace himself as they found their own pace. Slow and closemouthed at first until Keith pulled on Shiro’s lower lip and Shiro opened his mouth. This time it was Shiro’s turn to inhale as the familiar electricity they had previously shared returned full force. Not even a year in space managed to dull the flame that still burned between them, and within seconds, hands started roaming and positions shifted. Shirts moved and covers were thrown off. Shiro shifted to kiss along Keith’s jaw and Keith moved his head back exposing his neck for Shiro. Shiro quickly moved to kiss and lick down the column and Keith heard a moan escape. He couldn’t tell if it was from his throat or Shiro’s, maybe both. Keith felt a hand push his shirt up. Maybe he was ready for sex. He pushed the thought out of his mind and decided to go with the proverbial flow as Shiro’s lips claimed his mouth once again and then the alarm went off.  
Shiro slumped on top of Keith and exhaled. “Clock blocked, damnit.” He said into Keith’s shoulder. He reached over and turned the alarm off.  
Keith patted his back and smiled, a small chuckle escaping his mouth. “Maybe it’s for the best. At least at this point in time.”  
“Maybe. Ok, guess we should get up. If we don’t get down for food, they’ll send someone to look for us.” Shiro said as he sat up and moved to the side of the bed.  
“Don’t want to give anyone a heart attack?” Keith said sitting up and moving to the edge of the bed beside Shiro. “I’ll go back to my room.”  
Shiro took his hand. “I would’ve like you to stay longer.”  
Keith kissed his cheek. “Next time.” He said.  
They both stood up and walked to the door. Keith slid his feet back into his slippers and the door opened.  
“See you soon.”  
“Not if I see you first.” 

 

Breakfast was a solemn affair. The weight of the missions and the realization of what could and would happen if they failed hung heavily in the air. Even with Hunk cooking a special meal and Lance trying to crack jokes, the room seemed off. That only got worse when Allura walked in.  
Allura made eye contact with each person at the table except Keith. He tried not to be hurt by it and continued eating the food on his plate. Coran looked over at Keith and then Allura and quietly sighed. It was going to be a long day.  
“We’ll meet in two varga’s in the yellow lion’s hanger. Be ready to leave then.” She said and left the room.

 

Two hours later came too quickly but everyone was there and listening to Corans instructions. Hunk and Keith would find the Weblum and find a way to get the skultrite. Lance, Pidge and Shiro were tasked with breaking the scientist, Slav, out of prison. Allura would take the castle to the Balmera and Coran would meet them all on Olkarion where the Teladove would be built

 

When the time came to say goodbye, Keith went to grasp Shiro’s hand, instead to be pulled into a tight hug and held in place by Shiro. No words were needed between the two. Hunk shook Pidge’s hand while not trying to fight back tears. Lance just put his hands up in surrender before being yanked into a hug from Hunk. Keith and Shiro stepped back and he looked to Allura who once again looked away. Keith glanced down at the floor in defeat. He picked up his helmet and headed up the yellow lion ramp without looking back. 

 

They were about the start the fight of their lives.

 


End file.
